Andrew Welsh hopes Zach Merrett will stay at Essendon, adding that the AFL wooden spooners will one day make that sort of choice a no-brainer.
The Essendon president spoke expansively on Wednesday about the challenges facing the club. He is bullish about a return to power in the league, but warned the process would not be perfect.
Speculation is rife that Merrett will again try for a trade to Hawthorn, after his shock bid a year ago fell through.
Merrett, expected to win his seventh club best and fairest on October 1, has spoken positively this week about the club and their new coach Mark McVeigh.
"I hope he's an Essendon player next year. Time will tell, but he's certainly been a champion for us," Welsh said at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry grand final lunch on Wednesday.
More broadly, Welsh said the challenge is making Essendon a destination club once more. They notoriously have not won a final since 2004.
"We will become an attractive club again, and at that point it will be easy to retain and attract talent," he said.
"We need to accept where we are on the ladder and some of the challenges we've faced, we haven't been overly attractive and that's what we're working to change."
Essendon appointed McVeigh as coach in late August after a torturous few months, with former coach and Bombers great James Hird making it clear he wanted the role again.
Welsh said it was tough for people at Essendon to keep their mouths shut and not respond to the rampant media commentary.
"It was an extremely testing period. James is one of my good mates, he's a fantastic person, loves footy, loves the footy club," he said.
"It was tough, because for once as a club we were able to keep what we were doing internal. I was really happy with how the panel and board went through that process."
Asked about taking on the presidency around this time last year, Welsh drew plenty of laughs when he said: "Retrospectively, it was a f*** up to take it on."
Essendon are a divided club and Welsh said it would take time to bring the various factions together.
"It's never going to be perfect, we have a passionate supporter base, we have passionate people in and around the club," he said.
"But if we can harness and control that, push through this next period ... I'm pretty excited for where the club can get to.
"Everyone knows an Essendon supporter and that's the size of our club - we're just pretty pissed off at the moment."
But Welsh, who built his wealth as a property developer in Melbourne's outer west, is used to fraught situations.
"I never got shot, but I did have a few guns pointed at me," he said of trying to buy farms.
"I had a few guns held at me, walking me back down the driveway - they weren't interesting in selling. I ended up buying those ones as well."
